A few days ago, Suku and I had the amazing opportunity to discover a skeleton while digging in Pollentia. That in itself was an experience because in discovering the skeleton, I did it, quite literally, by accident. Imagine digging away, making a pile of dirt, then shoveling the dirt into a basket. Repeat. Then imagine digging up what you thought was just another superficial layer was just scattered bones from prior archeologists doing some primitive excavation(compared to our modern technique), only to find that you end up digging one calcaneus, one talus and a distal pedal phalanx. Then another set, unknowingly digging up the feet of an entire skeleton. That’s right. I dug up the feet of a skeleton without knowing it. Don’t ask how I didn’t notice. To this day, I still personally think that’s why I had to work with the Moroccan diggers two days in a row(another story for another time). What is interesting is that I was less concerned about the fact that I probably dug up the skeleton of someone from the 13th century and was more concerned about the fact that I accidentally dug up the feet.

The realization that I had dug a 13th century skeleton is something that finally hit me a bit later as I think I never truly understood the implications of what I had done. Last Friday, I was also part of the excavation team that dug up part of the wall of what is thought to be an old Christian basilica from about the same time period. I never thought that I would be doing such neat things while here on this experience, but what is more interesting is again trying to think about the implications done. I don’t feel any outstanding emotions. I don’t even think my thought process was any different from a reaction that probably was “that’s cool”. Yet regardless of that, I still find that it is meaningful to me because it’s amazing to know that there is a piece of history that literally is just being uncovered. One could eventually learn to understand why the church was placed there, and it’s function in the bigger picture of society. All the pottery that is scattered around it, bones and other artifacts, it helps form the entire picture of what once was a very significant city on this island some 800+ years ago.

Ultimately, I think that the beginning of this adventure is full of new learning curves, a lot of tired days, large wheel barrows and large baskets of dirt. Yet what I think is under-appreciated, by me, and honestly by a lot of us who are at the dig, is that we are actually partaking in uncovering history. The story of a past people that, I’d argue not even a fraction of the world even have an idea about, we get to unearth with our own eyes. Look into the past. Take what is learned from the past and bring it into the present in order to form our future. Will it cause some uncomfortable moments coming into terms with what it means for one to dig up another person’s physical resting place is? Sure it will. Will it make one become humbled with what it means to potentially destroy it without understanding what it means to that person? Yes it will. Yet these are the types of things that must be wrestled with when delving into archeology and the questions involving our past.